Biology and Wildlife Special Topics Courses

Each semester, a few "special topics" courses are offered through our department. These are undergraduate- or graduate-level courses that are not currently listed in the course catalog.

SPRING 2014

BIOL/MATH 393: Synthetic Biology (3 credits)

Instructors:

Dr. Kristin O'Brien, kmobrien@alaska.edu, 474-5311

Dr. Elizabeth Allman, esallman@alaska.edu, 474-2479

Requirements: Junior or Senior class standing and a declared major in Biology, Math, Chemistry, Computer Science or Engineering. There are no course prerequisites. This course will count towards a math major.

Synthetic biology is the design and construction of novel biological systems. The applications of synthetic biology are numerous, especially in the fields of biomedicine and energy. Examples include microbes that synthesize plastic, yeast that synthesize fuels, bacteria that manufacture spider silk, and yeast that produce anti-malarial drugs. Students in this course will learn basic molecular biology, modern molecular biological techniques, mathematical modeling of biological systems, and how to use descriptive statistics for analysis of laboratory data. Students will work together and apply these skills in designing and constructing a novel synthetic microorganism.